On Thursday, April 15th,  a friend, Ivan, mentioned that he had been training for 10 weeks with a local biking group and Endorphin Fitness with the goal of entering the Wintergreen Ascent on May 1st.  He was going to give it a test ride on April 17th, and invited me to join him.  Since I enjoy his company, was available that day, and he offered to pick me up and take me there, I took him upon his offer.

The next morning I called “Coach Felix” and advised him of my plans. Upon hearing this, he’d advised me that I had to drop everything and train that day for the next day’s ride.  Otherwise, there was no way I’d make it to the top.  I thought this response was a little bit of an over reaction, but agreed.

On our two hour hill training ride, Felix gave me countless pointers. I remembered about half of them.  He also advised me to go to bed early, what to eat, etc. The next morning Ivan picked me up, and in about two hours, and many pit stops later, we arrived at the base of the mountain. The pit stops were necessitated by Felix’s mandate to hydrate, because he encouraged me not to take a water bottle.  I was also told to leave my spare tire, pump & cell phone in the car. When we started our ride, we were joined by three people who were in the same category, and planned to ride with us.  As we started our ascent, one of the others, with good intentions, encouraged me to latch on to their pace line.  As instructed by Felix, I declined this offer, and stuck to my energy conservation plan.  This was me against the mountain and not others. On the way to the top, there were many times that I thought I might not make it.  I felt that I had consumed every amount of energy I had in me but made it to the top! So, during our post ride lunch, I decided to sign up for the race in the 60+ category.

On the drive back, I called Felix to let him know that all of his advice paid off, and that I planned to sign up.  He then explained about the license needed, race dynamics, to loose weight, and continued training needed.  For the next 10 days, I focused on his advice; but , was pretty relaxed because I figured the second time around would be easier than the first. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

On May 1st, the weather was hot and humid. I had a very pleasant send off by Karen Hanson, who managed to slip in a “good luck Dan” during the 15 second count down.  That was the only pleasant experience until my meatloaf & gravy meal at the Devil’s Backbone after the race.  The heat and humidity made for what several riders I spoke to called a “brutal” race. Many times during the climb, I thought very seriously about making a “U” turn.  The thing that kept me going most, was the prospect of seeing my non-riding friends, and answering their… “how did you do?” with a… “pretty good, but I didn’t make it to the top and finish!”.

Thanks Felix and Karen, and my non-riding friends for your encouragement. It was one the hardest physical challenges of my life, and I’m glad I did it. Now, I am looking forward to the next TT wearing CyCor’s colors, again!

Dan Dubansky